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INVASION '44: The First Full Story of D-Day in Normandy by John Frayne Turner

INVASION '44: The First Full Story of D-Day in Normandy

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Pub Date: June 25th, 1959
Publisher: Putnam

This, in contrast to D-Day by David Howarth (McGraw-Hill, p. 161) and the sense there of events happening to individuals, -- handles its material with the emphasis on man in the mass and the massive interrelation of all the component parts of the invasion program, and provides an extensive panorama of activity before, during -- and after the day. Beginning with Dunkirk and the idea even then, four years ahead, of a direct assault invasion, this follows the development of British plans, the incorporation of American organization and cooperation, the foreseen obstacles that necessitated a unit (Wheezers and Dodgers) to undertake unorthodox projects and technical devices, and the mapping of movements in the air, at sea, underwater, and on land. The changes and shifts accounted for by British, American and Russian conferences, the military -- and finally the weather, the narrowing down of the place and the time, and the final count-down, wind up with the hour by hour report on the functioning of each arm of the services, with the undertaking hanging in the balance on the beaches after the sea had contributed its threats. The wave on wave of machines and men, the landings, the evidences of leadership, and individual enterprise, the obstacles that endangered the proper functioning of the whole plan, the several miracles, unknown at the time, which contributed to the eventual success -- and the final refuse of battle....this again points up the vastness of the wholly unique performance. Howarth's book, already published and running in the S.E.P., has more of human interest and may weaken the market for this which concentrates on the mightiness (but does not completely ignore the minute) and creates an impressive accounting.